Development and control of multi-degree-of-freedom mobile robot for acquisition of road environmental modes

SUMMARY The acquisition of information about the environment around a mobile robot is important for purposes such as controlling the robot from a remote location and in situations such as that when the robot is running autonomously. In some research, audiovisual information has been used. However, the acquisition of information about force sensation, which is included in environmental information, has not been well investigated. The mobile-hapto, which is a remote control system with force information, has been proposed, but the robot used for the system can acquire only the horizontal components of forces. For this reason, in this research a three-wheeled mobile robot consisting of seven actuators was developed and a control system was created for it. The robot can acquire information about horizontal and vertical forces without using force sensors. By using this robot, detailed information on the forces in the environment can be acquired and the operability of the robot and its ability to adjust to the environment are expected to improve.